Retirement property: Plan your future wisely
|
Freddie Spink with Cliff Meyler, operations director for Urban Renaissance Villages: "I've never lived anywhere like this before"
It's something few of us want to contemplate, yet it happens to us all. At some point in your life, the need to downsize your home and plan for your retirement will strike, yet what are your options?
Increasingly limited, according to research by Savills. Recent statistics reveal an ageing population, with some 9.7 million over the age of 65 in 2008, which will increase by 24 per cent in 2018 to 12 million and by 50 per cent in 2028, taking the total to 14.5 million.
Figures for the over-80s are similar, with a growth of 78 per cent by 2028 taking the figure to 4.8 million. Alongside an ageing population, the research also shows a shortfall in the number of care homes and sheltered accommodation, making the need to plan ahead even more urgent. The head of Savills' residential research team, Jim Ward, says: "This is definitely an expanding market, as the demography shows. Those with capital in their properties are opting to release it and buy somewhere which is appropriate for their age and where they won't have to move from if they become infirm."
